Paving New Paths on the Challenging Journey of Transformation – A BALTIC UKH Project Story

What do public institutions stand for in the 21st century? How does digital transformation affect the people they serve? And what can we as public service providers do to truly make a difference for them? Leaving old paths and outdated images behind, we are on our way to find the best possible designs for spaces and services fitting our clients’ needs and demands. Yet without the support of our communities, we would quickly lose our way. We depend on partnerships with institutions and associations at both the international and local levels, as well as on the ideas and creativity of individuals.

This insight is the source of power for the BALTIC UKH project. The creation of modern and appealing physical and digital spaces for citizens, young adults and students in Riga, Copenhagen, Aarhus, and Hamburg may be a useful visible and tangible output of the project, but it was not its core. What we approached was a better understanding of our communities’ needs, a deeper relationship with our local collaborators, and a reliable network with our international partners. By researching, discussing, and trying tools and methods of user engagement, we started an intensive dialogue with all of them. Furthermore, the process provided helpful feedback for the project team as well as new ways of thinking for all. For example, high school students in a design thinking workshop not only translated their ideas for a future space into impressive models, but also shared their views on the library – including their hesitation to disturb older students. So, we discussed what we could do to make them feel more comfortable using the library.

The iterative process of experimentation and feedback generated new insights into how these tools and methods can support libraries, museums, and archives as well as other public institutions in navigating the often-challenging path of transformation. The resulting 4C-Toolbox is based on the four pillars of user engagement: co-creation, co-design, co-production, and co-evaluation. It provides a step-by-step guide to user engagement with best practice examples from the project and ready-to-use tools like charts, checklists, and worksheets. This makes it possible even for colleagues with no prior experience to use and experiment with it – regardless of their project’s scale. It was one of the BALTIC UKH project’s highlights when we first tried out the toolbox at our final conference in Copenhagen involving colleagues from a variety of different backgrounds and countries across the Baltic Sea Region. Ultimately, having a proven methodological toolbox at hand enables them to initiate or deepen community engagement – strengthening participation, knowledge exchange, and local democracy.

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